Perishable items such as plants or the like have been shipped in boxes. The boxes are loaded on a pallet, and the pallet is then loaded into a truck or other vehicle for shipping. Refrigerated trucks are often utilized to ship plants or other perishable items.
In general, a greenhouse or other supplier of plants will offer a variety of plants in different sized pots or other containers. Also, the plants themselves may vary substantially in size. Typically, a customer places an order for plants that includes plants of different species that are supplied in pots of different sizes. If cardboard boxes or other conventional containers are used for shipping, large and small plants may be placed together in a box in order to fill a specific order. However, the box may be larger than necessary for some of the plant species, leading to inefficient use of the space within the boxes. Also, the boxes may be time consuming to load, and/or difficult to position in a truck without damage to the plants or box.